For those of us who like to stay in shape, hot weather can prove to be a real stumbling block – but one fitness centre has found a clever solution to this problem

For those of us who like to exercise, summer can be a difficult time. Often, it’s too hot to work out outdoors, and even in dedicated gyms, air conditioning may not be enough to keep us cool during the very warmest months.

The UK has been basking in some particularly balmy weather in recent weeks, too, making workouts sweatier and the temptation to skip that Pilates class all the more enticing It’s no surprise, therefore, that UK-based gym-goers are going green-eyed over a gym in Dubai where managers and personal trainers seem to have come up with the perfect solution.

GymNation – the country’s leading gym chain, with over 120,000 members – says it has shipped in more than 1,000kg of ice this week alone for its new workout classes, where participants push giant ice blocks, squat in ice-filled vests and even sprint into giant chiller fans.

The novel approach to the UAE’s record temperatures has gone viral on social media, with toasty Brits urging their own gyms to come up with similar classes.

Taking to Instagram, one person wrote: “I’ll go…….. Just bring it to my front door.”

Another agreed: “Other gym plans immediately cancelled for July and August.”

Meanwhile a third chimed in: “Okay, but the frosted reps with ice vests!? who’s free to go next weekend, I need a gym buddy for this madness.”

The workout is known as the “Coolest Class” and combines high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with ice-cold challenges.

These include ‘blizzard sprints’, which are treadmill runs against a giant fan. This not only creates the feeling of resistance, but also keeps runners cool.

The ‘polar push’ involves sled pushes with ice blocks, while ‘frosted reps’ are squats with ice-packed weighted vests.

The ‘glacier grip challenge’ sees participants complete bicep curls and lunges using ice buckets.

At the end of the class, participants can recover in a ‘chill zone’.

GymNation Chief Marketing Officer Rory McEntee says the the class was created as a “genuine solution to the boiling temperatures which are restricting gym goers”.

He said: “We’ve seen a huge amount of interest from members since launching the class and it’s been good fun watching the reaction unfold on social media around the world in the past few days.

“At GymNation, we pride ourselves on being the people’s gym and that means listening to what our members need. Peak summer in Dubai becomes a real challenge due to overheating – with a recent YouGov survey revealing 71% of residents plan to stay in during summer, rather than seek local leisure opportunities to escape the heat.

“We wanted to fix that with this new class, which combines cutting-edge fitness programming with temperature-controlled training to deliver maximum impact, without the meltdown.

“We’ve even had messages from fitness lovers in the UK, Europe and Australia over the past week who are travelling to Dubai in July, asking to reserve them a place.”

Sadly for UK exercise-lovers, there are “no plans” to bring the class here yet.